>> the government is not efficient of handling this. >> what's the senator's big concern? megan gets shocking insight you can't miss. monday on "the kelly files." >> this hour, when he talks, washington listens. charles krauthammer, his uniquely american story. his journey from md to the pulitzer prize. how he over came a devastating accident with a determination to lead a life that matters. i am bret baier. i hope you will enjoy watching this fox news reporting special as much as we enjoyed making it. fox viewers know where charles krauthammer sits on the panel and probably know his position on most issues, but we bet there's a lot you don't know about the all star panelist syndicated columnist, harvard trained psychiatrist and even occasional baseball analyst.

we think you should, even if the doctor has a different opinion. >> you were a little reticent when we started this project. what's your thought about this? >> i don't like it. >> full disclosure. i have been trying to get charles krauthammer to sit for an interview for some time. >> on the hill today talking about not one where he simply shares his thoughts on the news of the day. >> i suspect there will be another twist here. >> one where he pulls back the curtain and reveals beyond the extraordinary writer and influential thinker, the rieffe life of an intensely private man. >> when i say i don't like it. i am not adverse to the spotlight. i am not going to pretend somebody on television every night doesn't enjo i it but when it comes to interior life it is not something that is very interesting to me. >> charles krauthammer is a colleague and friend, but he only agreed to cooperate on a

fox news reporting profile reluctantly as part of the publicity campaign for yes, a new book. "things that matter" is not a professional memoir or scandal louse kiss and tell it's pieces from the pulitzer prize columnist. >> are you de coding my book? >> i am de coding it. it is all written in hieroglyph fics. >> it is not quite as impenetrable than high griffices. the first column is an incredibly moving bepiece about your brother. >> marcel died of cancer 7 years ago. he was 59. charles writes this about his older brother. quote, he taught me most everything i ever learned about every sport i ever played. he taught me how to throw a football, hit a backhand, grip a

nine-iron, field a grounder, dock a sailboat in the tailing wind. and how we played. it was paradise. >> tell me about that. >> it was a musical childhood. my brother was inseperable. he was 4 years older. he always insisted i be included. i got used to being around the big boys and taking the slings and arrows. that's how you get tough ined up. my parents were from europe. he was american, my brother. born in brazil but that's a long story. american. he made me an american. >> that long story short. krauthammer's mother thea is from belgium. his father was a real estate developer from what is now a providence of ukraine. both jews who left world war ii europe. they met in havana, moved to rio and eventually new york city where charles was born in 1950.

when he was 5 the krauthammers moved to montreal, but they spent summers at the family cottage at long beach, new york. charles recalls spending every day with his brother on the field, on the court or in the water. >> i don't think i owned a shirt that -- all of the pictures my father is shirtless, my brother is shirtless. we were outside in the sun. i read on the beach. that's where i got all of my knowledge was reading. >> there was reading and studying. his father who spoke 9 languages even carried his son's second grade report card around in his pocket. >> his motto was i want you to know everything i want you to learn everything. you don't have to do everything, you have to know everything. that was part of life. >> the life did not own a tv. >> my father wouldn't allow it. once a week we would go to the neighbor's to watch the ed

sullivan show. >> inspired uncles who were doctors marcel krauthammer went to medical school. it was assumed charles would follow. as a 19-year-old senior at mcgill the internationally renowned canadian university, he was bitten by a different bug. political journalism. >> when i was at campus the editor ship of the newspaper at mcgill was controlled the student council. i had been elected to the student council. the paper was becoming unreadable. it was run by marxists. it looked like it came out of the soviet union. he couldn't read it. we enter ne-- engineered to tak the editor. now we looked around and decided it was going to be me. i never worked on a paper. small detail. >> a polly psy major he went to

oxford to study political theory krauthammer choose a life of science or a life of letters? the he had enviable options but he hadn't figured out what was meant to him. he put off harvard enrolled at oxford. while studying history's great political philosophers he met a fellow student from australia robin trethoway attractive and brilliant, too, a clerk to the supreme justice of the supreme court. so much would change between the three years when they met and married. beginning with his sudden decision to leave england. >> i had this epiphany of sorts. i started political theory. it was getting more and more ak tract. i learned a lot but felt i was

spinning out of the universe that didn't have anything to do with the real world. i called the registrar at harvard medical school and said i would like to come in the new class. i arer her saying one guy dropped out we start on monday. >> i grabbed a tooth brush, i didn't pack. i got on a plane and i left. that's how i decided to become a doctor. when i woke up in boston the next day i thought to myself, oh my god, what have i done? but it was like that. >> why did you choose thi psychiatry? >> i was choosing for something halfway between medicine and philosophy. sipsychiatry was the obvious thing. i was lucky because it was probably the easiest branch of medicine for me to do once i was hurt. >> hurt? that doesn't even begin to describe it. >> when did you realize the

accident was life altering? >> the second it happened. >> after the break. avo: the volkswagen "sign then drive" sales event is back. which means it's never been easier to get a new passat, awarded j.d. power's most appealing midsize car,

two years in a row. and right now you can drive one home for practically just your signature. get zero due at signing, zero down, zero deposit, and zero first month's payment on any new 2014 volkswagen. hurry, this offer ends october 31st. for details, visit vwdealer.com today. and our giant idaho potato truck is still missing. so my dog and i we're going to go find it. it's out there somewhere spreading the good word about idaho potatoes and raising money for meals on wheels. but we'd really like our truck back, so if you see it, let us know, would you? thanks. what?

>> welcome back to fox news report. you have met the young charles krauthammer class of harvard 1985. things seemed to be being as planned. no life really ever does. the snapshot was taken in may 1972. it shows a strapping 6 foot 1 charles krauthammer standing on the beach. it's the confident smile of a young man well on his way to making it, smart, athletic, handsome, driven. the future all his. >> that was spring break my first year of medical school. i went with a bunch of friends to bermuda. that's the last picture of me taken standing.

of course i didn't know at the time. i was coming out of the water carrying my sandals i saw one of my friends with a camera. when i got to the top of the dune i stood there for a picture. thought nothing of it until i discovered it years later lying around and remembering it it was a pateffateful picture. >> fateful because of what would happen back in harvard that summer. >> you were 22 years old. tell me about that day. >> i went out and we had -- it was the end of my first year of medical school. we were doing neurology. we are studying the spinal cord of all things. my classmate and i decide to skip the morning session. beautiful july day. we were going to -- we played tennis instead. >> after their game they head back to class for the afternoon session. but along the way they stop at a pool on campus.

set down their books and pull off their sneakers. >> we are very sweaty and very hot. we go for a swim we take a few dives and i hit my head on the bottom of the pool. >> a freak accident says krauthammer. >> the amazing thing is there was not even a cut on my head. hit at precisely the angle where all of the force was transmitted to one spot and that is the cervical vertebra which severed the final cord. >> when did you realize the accident was life altering? is>> the second it happened. >> you knew? >> i knew exactly what happened. i knew why i wasn't able to move and i knew what that meant. >> at the bottom of the pool. >> i wasn't getting up. i knew. >> he was paralyzed unable to move his arms or legs. his friend thought he was clowning around and hesitated before diving down to save him. >> was there i ever a moment that you thought this is the

end? >> well, when i knew what happened and i knew i was at the bottom of the pool and i knew i wouldn't be able to swim, i was sure that was the end. >> do you think back to that day often? >> not really. it doesn't -- i have a distance from it. i see it like as if it happened in a film. interestingly enough, if you talk about a near death experience, there was no panic, no great emotion. i didn't feel light. -- i didn't see a light. my life did not flash before me. you sort of get to a place where you are ready, and then you suddenly brought back to the world. >> no cosmic revelation as he was rushed to the hospital, though krauthammer notes the irony of what he left behind. >> there were too books on the side of the school when they

picked up my effects. one was the anatomy of the spinal cord and the other one is manage of fate by andre monroe. quite a choice. i didn't know what was coming but it was fate. >> krauthammer's fate lay in the balance. what he did astounded his classmates. stick with power. stick with technology. get the flexcare platinum. new from philips sonicare. add brand new belongings from nationwide insurance and we'll replace stolen or destroyed items with brand-new versions. we put members first. join the nation. ♪ nationwide is on your side ♪

>> reporter: a skipped class, >> a skipped class, a fateful dive, a terrible injury. there he laid in a hospital bed

paralyzed. nothing to do but think. >> i made one comment from day one i was not going to allow it to alter my life except in ways which are sort of having to do with gravity. i am not going to defy gravity and i am not going to walk i am not going to water-ski again. that's fine. that you know. on the big things in life, the direction of my life, what i was going to do, that wouldn't change at all. >> he never entertained the notion one day whether through his own effort or even through medical miracle he would regain full use of his arms and legs. he resigned himself to the cold reality that wherever he went in life he would go in a wheelchair. >> is it hard? >> i think the physicalifizz pp hauz hard. i have a great capacity of erasing memories. it was long but it would seem very short. >> his teachers and classmates

thought he was rushing his decision to resume his studies immediately. >> you never thought about taking a year off or taking a couple years off? >> i knew that would be fatal. it was not a question. it is a little early for life to be over. >> no one heard of his injury standing up to the rigors of a med school curriculum, krauthammer convinced harvard to let him try. amazingly mere weeks after his accident he resumed classes while still in his hospital bed. >> i was lying on my back. the professors would come in, repeat their lectures and project slides on the ceiling. i asked the medical school to let me stay with my class. >> you read by laying on your back. >> one of the cardiac residents hooked up a flplex glass plate.

the nurses would put a book on it face down. you don't want to call them every minute and a half to turn the page, so i put two books up on one so they would only have to come half of the time. you have to remember where you were. it was a bit of a challenge. there wasn't a lot else to do. will>> with such force of will krauthammer graduated on time in 1975 and near the top of his class. along the way he got the girl, too, and married robin. as he began his 3 year residency at massachusetts general hospital there were indications from the beginning that charles and psychiatry might not be the perfect fit. >> part of the residency is you are supposed to go to a group therapy session and you didn't want to go. >> there were 12 of us and there was a group therapy once a week. i didn't go.

i thought it was a pointless exercise. so i was called in to the chief's office after about seven weeks of nonappearance. he said to me why aren't you going to therapy? i said sir, i came here to give therapy, no the to receive it. he said you are in denial. i said of course i am in denial. denial is the greatest of all defense mechanisms. i could be a professor of denial. i am an expert. i was going ton and on and on. he gave him an ult mate tive. go to group therapy or leave the program. >> so i went to the next 21 weeks of sessions or whatever it was. i didn't really say a word. whatever people would notice that they would say why aren't you talking? i said, because i am in denial. i am not a big therapy guy. >> was it because you didn't want somebody looking around your head? >> yes. i don't like to talk about

myself, except with you gis. i am not a touchy, i am not a feely guy. that's probably why i kit siqui psychiatry. if you are not into feelings and emotions, then all of the back stories then you ought to be doing something else. >> in 1978 krauthammer took a government job in washington at what would can the national institute of mental health. it wasn't what he really wanted but it put him in the right neighborhood. >> i thought once i am in washington, isn't that where they do politics, one thing will lead to another. >> his folks worried about their son tossing away a doctor's livelihood but didn't discourage him. his wife robin who would leave her career in law to become a painter and sculptor urged him to follow his dream. >> she was the one who 35 years ago encouraged me to follow my heart and with her whit and humor and generosity and spirit

as coauthor of my life. in a moment charles coauthor helps him answer a higher calling. >> later he finds himself moving left to right. after the break. [ female announcer ] who are we?

we are the thinkers. the job jugglers. the up all-nighters. and the ones who turn ideas into action. we've made our passions our life's work. we strive for the moments where we can say, "i did it!" ♪ we are entrepreneurs who started it all... with a signature. legalzoom has helped start over 1 million businesses, turning dreamers into business owners. and we're here to help start yours. i need a newn'tg dreamers investment pn.iness owners. i need to rethink the core of my portfolio. ishares core etfs are low-cost funds. so you can keep more of what you earn. get started with the new ishares core builder.

design a personalized plan that can help you achieve your investment goals. ishares by blackrock. call 1-800-ishares for a prospectus, which includes investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. read and consider it carefully before investing. risk includes possible loss of principal. an arm wrestling match that mr. clean realized the way to handle bigger, tougher messes was better leverage. that's why he created his new magic eraser handy grip. it has a handle that firmly attaches to the eraser so you get better leverage and more oomph with less effort. it's the perfect magic eraser for making stuff that's big and tough not so tough, after all. mr. clean's handy grip -- the newest member of the magic eraser family. in all purpose and bath. [ engine revs ] medicare open enrollment.ath. of year again. time to compare plans and costs. you don't have to make changes. buit never hurts to see if u can find bettoverage, save money, or both.

and check out the preventive benefits you get after the health care la open enrollment ends december 7th. so now's the time. visit medicare.gov or call 1-800-medicare ♪ nothing, that's what? that's why i take prilosec otc each morning for my frequent heartburn. 'cause it gives me a big fat zero heartburn. woo hoo! [ male announcer ] prilosec otc. the number one doctor recommended frequent heartburn medicine for 8 straight years. [ larry ] you can't beat zero heartburn. and best of all, it means i can enjoy all the foods i love. oh, zero heartburn is awesome. just like zero clery. ♪ [ male announcer ] prilosec otc. one pill each morning. 24 hours. zero heartburn. >> charles krauthammer once wrote a column about the most important person of the 20th century.

"time magazine" had chosen einstein the great scientist. charles disagreed. he picked churchill the indispensable statesman who led the fight against hitler and sounded the alarm on communism. politics trumping science. that might explain why krauthammer traded a big time medical career to a one-way ticket to washington. why once here his eyes locked on to a help wanted add in the political opinion magazine the new republican. >> i showed it to my wife. she said why don't you apply? how can i apply? i have never written anything. don't know anybody. she said you write it i will handy live it. that day moo my office i get a call. i have mike kins lee republican got your letter, why do you want to do this? you are a doctor. >> i was intrigued. >> michael kinsly was looking for a editor for the left wing

magazine. >> was there something that made you call him? >> he was a psychiatrist. he had no writing samples. arranged for him to come to lunch and there he was in his wheelchair and we hit it off right away. >> what did you see in him, though? >> i just enjoyed talking to him so much i had this feeling he must be able to write this down. >> krauthammer gave it a shot. as the saying goes, he wrote about what he knew. his first article the expanding shrink protested how psycho analysis was creeping into political discourse. for example the famous mel lace speech. >> they liked it they publiced it. i got lucky again. it was republished in the "washington post". it was the first time any article had been picked up bay the post. >> krauthammer wrote a few more

pieces for the magazine and might have joined the staff, except he got an even more intriguing offer as a speech writer for vice president walter mondale. >> that lasted six months. when we got totally crushed in the general election. i got a call from the new republic they said we think you are unemployed now would you like to come work for us? >> on the day reagan was sworn in that's the first day i was writing. >> reagan's inaugural truly signalled a great clash of ideas. >> in this present crisis government is not the solution to our problem, 2k3w069ment is t -- government is the problem. >> the new republic was right in the midst of it. >> the writers were the best of that era. will i was still a democrat at the time. traditional liberal democrat.

great society liberal. it is hard for people to believe now but the democratic party had a very powerful leg that was very -- (inaudible) krauthammer found himself believing more with reagan than others. >> i believed in the reagan policy. bow did we get reaction from our liberal read der ship. i wrote an article about the nuclear freeze that caused the largest number of canceled subscriptions in the magazine's history. >> what was his writing like? >> it has always been extremely step by step logical. if you can read a column by charles and still disagreehim a it you know you have a pretty good argument. >> those arguments had conservative columnists

wondering why krauthammer and the new republic were not supporting reagan. >> why sdon't you give up on th democrats. i was still one of those who wanted to save the soul of the democratic party and maintain this conservative element of which the element really was. >> krauthammer fired off a letter to buckley writing leg began still had quote a lot to answer for on foreign policy and his domestic policy was far worse. the catalog of sins we believe the president has committed is too long to recap pit late here. krauthammer tells me he privately wanted to beat his old boss walter mondale. >> i had worked for mondale in 1980. i liked him and respected him. as a matter of honor i p didn't want to vote against the man for whom i had respect and

affection. >> you had a vote reagan and mondale. >> that was the only election i left that line blank. if i had been the swing vote i would have voted for reagan. >> it was a turning point in krauthammer's transition from the political left to the political right. >> a few months after i wrote something called "the reagan doctrine." >> it was a time magazine column. for a while he praised him on a number of policy issues, he was crediting him with a break through insight that changed the calculus of the cold war. >> i realized what reagan had done without a grand master plan was to challenge what bresh neve have done. whenever we take over a country it is ours. all of a sudden what reagan had done was to challenge that and say no. y we don't get to keep what you have got. we are going to challenge your

possession wherever they are. this is a good idea. i am going to give it a name. >> he invented the reagan doctrine. now everyone has to have a doctrine. charles made it manndatory to come up with a doctrine for every president. >> even after reagan's 49 state land slide krauthammer was not sure what to make of reagan the man who he met at the white house in 1986. he invited me to lunch. all of a sudden what i am hearing from him is a story of how he and nancy were in the guest house in the philippines. there was a giant spider on the ceiling the question was how to get him off without scaring nancy. i am thinking, i don't get it. this is the most successful president in our life he seems to be out to lunch. what's going on. it was only la>> it was only la

realized what alluded him. >> he didn't knew what i wanted to talk about he wouldn't. he didn't want to talk about it >> it would be sometime before taxes, welfare, small government and other reaganesque things. >> it took me a decade. i was skeptical of smaller government. by the end of the 80s i had begun to change. i am pis per cal evidence. if the treatment is killing your patients you stop the treatment. i began to look and think about whether the view i had with democratic society in europe. it was a more limited society small in government. >> by that time krauthammer's world was really falling into

place. in 1985 his son daniel was born. two years later krauthammer won the biggest honor in print journalism, the pulitzer prize. not bad for someone who started in the business less than a decade earlier. he went straight from the ceremony to see his father who once worried about his son's junk from medicine to journalism. he was 84 and gravely ill. >> i went to the hospital where he was. i said dad, i have something i want to give you. i gave him the medal. he beamed and he showed it to all of the nurses. >> turned out to be krauthammer's final visit with his dad. >> the last time i saw him was the time when his whole circle was closed and he could feel the choice had been redeemed in some way. it was a very comforting thing to remember about the last time you see your parents. >> krauthammer called the 1990s

a holiday from history. the cold war was won. the era of big government declared over. and 9-11 brought a new urgency to his commentary. >> people understand there's a nexus between these weapons these states and the terrorists and we have to attack them where they are. >> krauthammer began appearing on special report's all star panel and soon an audience favorite. >> you have been a fixture on "special report" for a long time. even still a lot of people don't know that you are in a wheelchair. they don't know the extent of your paralysis. >> i am sitting behind a table. it is true, i say half of the people i nemeet are absolutely surprised to see me in a wheelchair. when did it happen? eight or nine years ago. i went into madison square

garden into the fox box. sean hannity stands up he walks up the stairs, he looks at me and goes, what happened? i just told him i was hurt when i was a medical student. even somebody i have been on the air with wouldn't know. >> what is apparent is krauthammer has the attention of people in high places. just one example, krauthammer's opposition to aharriet meyers nt only blocked her nomination to the supreme court a comment on the panel gave president bush a way out. >> i remember thinking how did i get out? it came to me while on the set of special report. i think what the administration ought to do is say look. his face saving solution basically went like this. because meyer's legal writings were covered by executive privilege the senate couldn't vet her so she had to withdraw. >> three-days later that's what she did.

>> are you surprised the amount of influence you have with your column, with special report, that you hear or see things that happen as a result of a column or a statement? do you ever think about it? >> i think about it and i find it worrworrisome. the reason is when i was totally you know kno unknown i could say anything i damn well pleased. >> from power hitters to the panel at the ballpark in 8 minutes flat. the way it used to. past my prime? i'm a victim of a slowin? i don't think so. great grains protein blend. protein from natural ingredients like seeds and nuts. it helps support a healthy metabolism. great grains protein blend.

with my united mileageplus explorer card. i've saved $75 in checked bag fees. [ delavane ] priority boarding is really important to us. you can just get on the plane and relax. [ julian ] havg a card that doesn't charge you foreign transaction fees saves me a ton of money. [ delavane ] we can go to any country and spend money the way we would in the u.s. when i spend money on this card, can see brazil in my future. [ anthony ] i use the explorer card to earn miles

in order to go vis my family, which means lot to me. ♪ i took my son fishing every year. we had a great spot, not easy to find, but worth it. but with copd making it hard to breathe, i thought those days might be over. so my doctor prescribed symbicort. it helps significantly improve my lung function starting within five minutes. symbicort doesn't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden symptoms. with symbicort, today i'm breathing betr. and that means...fish on! symbicort is for copd including chronic bronchiti and emphysema. it should not be taken more than twice a day. symbicort may increase your risk of lung infections, osteoporosis, and some eye problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. with copd, i thought i'd miss our family tradition. now symbicort significantly improves my lung nction, starting within 5 minutes. and that makes a difference in my breathing. today, we're ready for whaver swims our way. ask your doctor aut symbicort.

i got my first prescription free. call or cck to learn more. [ male announcer ] if you n't afrd your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. that's why there's new duracell quantum. only duracell quantum has a hi-density core. and that means more fuel, more power, more performance than the next leading brand. new duracell quantu trusted everywhere. >> welcome back to fox news reporting. charles krauthammer set out to rig write a book about the things that matter most. and he didn't mean politics. >> the pond on 19th street one of washington's legendary power seats.

you know you are you lunching with one of dc's power players if his character kau tour is on the wall. >> today charles krauthammer is holding on the nuances of power. not the political power of the white house ten blocks away, he's talking about the washington nationals and whether they can power a late season playoff run. >> finish 14-2. (indiscernible). >> i think charles and i are both people who write about politics to support our baseball habit. >> noted conservative columnist and newly lamented fox news contributor george will has written two books on baseball. >> do you remember when you first met charles? >> i think it was 1982 he was with the new republic and wrote a cover story on me. thought he was an interesting

guy, bring him to lunch, and that's how we met. >> how long did it take before you were friends? >> i think it was instantaneous. five years later i bought a new house and the first thing i did was built a wheelchair around it so charles could get in. >> when you first got together you talked about baseball and you double all of the important issues you talk politics. >> if there is time left over, yeah. >> senior writer or espn magazine has lunch with will and krauthammer a couple times a year to talk baseball. >> to say their fans is an under statement, to say they love the game is an under statement. >> i grew up playing the game. as a kid my brother and i would go around on our schwin's with transiter radios on the handle bars. this is our lives. >> since the nationals came to

washington in 2005 they have had no bigger fan than charles krauthammer. >> when i started to do your show every night it ends at 7, the game starts at 7:10. the garage at fox is 7 minutes if the wind is fair in the third street tunnel from the garage at mac stadium. i get there at the bottom of the first, how can i resist. >> he makes that trip in a special vehicle designed just for him that let's him accelerate and break with his left hand and steer with his right. >> everybody who comes in here the first time is tear fied. i don't blame them. when i went for my driving test, the tester didn't want to get in. i told him he had to, it's the law. i think he passed me because he survived. he was so happy to be alive. >> first time i saw you in a parking lot i waved to you you

said to me you really shouldn't wave, it's a little dangerous. >> yeah, the wave is a little bit hard. somebody let's me in in traffic i am tempted to take one hand and do the thank you wave but i wouldn't have a hand on the steering wheel. >> it took us 8 minutes to get to the stadium. when we took our seats the gnats before beating the braves. he went into analyst mode right away as though he was breaking down a move. >> on a 1-0 count you want to see on a breaking ball it's slower. is he likely to throw a breaking ball? no. so he's unlikely to try to steal right now. now he might go. >> nine innings with charles krauthammer is not just a day at the park it's grad school for

baseball. >> this is unfortunate match up. the only reason cilantro no is in there is the backup catcher doesn't hit very well. >> no, no, no. >> from time to time charles writes about baseball, typically in a way that transcends the score. rick, a 21-year-old pitching phenom who back in 2000 fell apart when he was picked to start a playoff game with a huge national tv audience watching he suddenly couldn't throw a strike. he never pitched the same again. but instead of quitting, he went back down to the minors, learned a new position, and returned to the majors as a hitter. the column is reprinted in krauthammer's book "things that matter." it's in the personal section just a few pages after the piece about his brother marcel.

>> i was thinking about this column. this is not really about you, but your last line, the catastrophe that awaits everyone from a single false move, wrong term, fatal encounter, every life has such a moment. what distinguishes us is whether and how we ever come back. >> that's why the rick ankiel story resinated with me. i had my fatal encounter as did rick. there are low points. do you want it enough or are you lucky enough? >> while his injury has kept him off of the playing fields and courts he pursued another competitive outlet. >> which do you like more baseball or chess when you are in the game? >> there's no comparison. it's chess. >> do you still play chess? >> no, i gave it up. it is an addiction. >> completely. >> it's a poison.

you reach a point when you are on the internet middle of the night you are playing speed chess you realize you are in a motel room drinking aqua velvet. >> your book was supposed to be a collection of essays of things other than politics, but it didn't turnout that way. why? >> in the end everything all of the beautiful elegant things in life depend ultimately on getting politics right. >> you say science, art, poetry, baseball must ultimately bow to politics. >> i have a column in the book where i talk about the fermy paradox. he was a physicist who posed a system question. we know there are millions of habitable worlds out there. so there have to be thousands, millions of civilizations. why have we never heard from any of them? the most plausible explanation

every time civilization receives the kind of science that would allow you to transcend a signal they destroy themselves. can we regular politics in a certain way. it is a question that only can be answered by politicians. >> taking off the tea party. have you seen this mail? >> my assistant reads most of my mail. the he is now in thinker pee. fox news reporting continues fox news reporting continues after the break claer clear yeah? then how'd i g this... [ voice of dennis ] ...safe driving bonus check? every six months without an accident, allstate sends a check. silence. are you in good hands? i'm, like, totally not down with change. but i had to change to bounce dryer bars. one bar freshens more loads than these two bottles.

i am so gonna tell everyone. [ male announcer ] how do you get your bounce? [ woman ] time for change! [ male announcer ] how do you get your bounce? when ouwe got a subaru.s born, it's where she said her first word. (little girl) no! saw her first day of school. (little girl) bye bye! made a best friend forever. the back seat of my subaru is where she grew up. what? (announcer) the two-thousand-fourteen subaru forester. (girl)hat? (announcer) built to be there for your family. love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru.

female narrator: the mattress price wars are on the mattress price wars are on at sleep train. we challenged the manufacturers to offer even lower prices. now it's posturepedic versus beautyrest with big savings of up to $400 off. serta icomfort and tempur-pedic go head-to-head with three years' interest-free financing. plus, free same-day delivery, set-up, and removal of your old set. when brands compete, you save. mattress price wars are on now at sleep train. ♪ your ticket to a better night's sleep ♪

>> it was january 2009, 30 years

after charles krauthammer began his journalism career here in washington. a new president was about to be swoen in. krauthammer wasn't sure what to make of barack obama. he got a chance to size him up at a small dinner party hosted by his friend george will. it was a week before inauguration. >> i remember before the president elect arrived saying i haven't been able to figure this guy out? is he a centrist does he throw the ball to the left or a lefty who occasionally through the ball to the left. -- right. >> we spent three hours with this man he leaves we are staying behind a little bit i say same question, is he a centrist, is he a lefty? >> five years later you think you figured him out? >> i figured him out after the first state of the union speech, five weeks late. >> we will invest 15 billion a year to develop technologies

like wind power toll similar power. we can no longer afford to put healthcare reform on hold. >> i was so astonished i wrote five columns in a row on what kind of unusual political animal he was in giving an agenda as radical as any since fdr. he basically said, i am not here to tinker, i have come to transform america. >> you have been pretty tough on this president. >> i think he has done just about everything wrong. >> just as he was willing to offend his fellow liberals back in the 80s he is willing to take on conservatives he believes is wrong. >> have you seen the mail from some of the things you said about ted cruz. i get the e-mails. >> my assistant reads most of my mail and he is now in therapy. just kidding. >> krauthammer on fox did not appreciate what cruz did. >> if you listen to talk radio,

it might really send his assistant over the edge. >> charles krauthammer in 1980 he was working for walter mondale. >> there's a deep division among republicans in a sense that they have been de prayed -- betrayed leaders who are cowardly. i think it's a complete misreading of what happened. it is 100 percent impossible to repeal something like obama care when you only control the house. i think it is completely detached from reality. when in the past i would encounter things detached -- first i would give them a shot of haloda loshg. i know it's unpopular but it is my job to call a folly a folly. if you are going to leave the medical profession because you think you have something to say, you are betraying your whole life if you don't say what you think and if you don't say it honestly and bluntly. >> do you think you will ever stop writing? is>> i plan to die at my desk.

>> really? i donwould like to. i am not sure i can arrange it. in the nation, sometimes bad things happen. add brand new belongings from nationwide insurance and we'll replace stolen or destroyed items with brand-new versions. we put members first. join the nation. ♪ nationwide is on your side ♪

verizon innovators are combining a network of underwater sensors and artificial reefs that actually make our water cleaner.

giving sea life-- new life. because the world's biggest challenges deserve even bigger solutions. powerful answers. verizon. if you think a prune is a prune, yothe amazing prune.nsweet, two great ways to enjoy the amazing prune are plum amazins and sunsweet ones. plum amazins diced prunes are great as a snack or on just about anything. i like that! i'd put these on a salad. these would be perfect for cookies. ones individually wrapped prunes are simply irresistible. that is so juicy. it's packaged by itself. that's fantastic. delicious and nutritious my kids are going to love this. ones and plum amazins. only from sunsweet, the amazing prune. then you'll know how uncomfortable it can be. [ crickets chirping ] but did you know that the lack of saliva can also lead to tooth decay and bad breath? [ exhales deeply ] [ male announcer ] well there is biotene. specially formulated with moisturizers and lubricants,

biotene can provide soothing relief and it helps keep your mouth healthy, too. [ applause ] biotene -- for people who suffer from dry mouth. next. >> what's the fed? >> f-e-d, fed? >> the federal government. >> what's the fed? >> what's the fed? i don't know. >> most americans don't know yet we give the fed enormous power. >> americans have been reluck dant to give too much financial power away. that's smart. but we need somebody to foster conditions for a healthy economy. >> really? >> your collar bb juworth as mu tomorrow than tz today. >> he has been in charge for a while. >> not everybody likes it. will i think it's good. >> he said housing prices wouldn't